Page Six
THE JEWISH: NEWS
Friday,
-
1945
What Becomes of Our
Refugee Children?
•
brew as quickly as possible. Their studies
of the history and geography of the Home-
land are supplemented by frequent trips
to other settlements and to points of his-
toric interest. There are lectures, discus-
sions and meetings, for they are self-gov-
erning bodies allowed to manage their
own affairs in so far as possible. As soon
hs their knowledge of Hebrew permits,
they publish their • own monthly journals.
They soon join in the cultural activities
of the general group, adding their bit in
the way of choirs, folk dancing, or dra-
matic offerings to all festivals.
-
By DOROTHY KAHN-BAR ADON
An important evaluation of a great human-
itarian effort for refugee children reprinted
from Life in Palestine.
The ultimate answer to the question,
"What happens to the refugee child" is
to be found in almost every village and
settlement today. Hundreds of sturdy
young men and women working in the
barns, carp ponds, wheat ' fields- , sheep
pens, fowl runs, carpentry and smithy
shops, communal kitchens and baby
houses, were, only a short time ago,
"refugee children." The most reassur-
ing and dramatic answer is to be found
in those settlements, started by refugee
children. Could we have hoped for more
than this — that the refugee child should
add a new settlement to the map of Pal-
estine (and in such challenging areas as
the Dead Sea and the Huleh swampland);
and that he should develop into an adult
farmer, teacher, or leader, capable of
passing on the torch to other refugee
children?
T
HE most challenging facet of the refu-
gee problem now facing the world is the refugee
child. What is to be done with these children,
torn from their moorings? A prolonged discus-
sion, regarding England's half a million uprooted
children (owing to evacuation or loss of parents)
was carried on in the London "Times," evoking
opinions from the playwright, G. B. Shaw, mem-
bers of parliament, novelists, psychiatrists and
others. How much more complicated is the prob-
lem of the Jewish refugee child who, in addition
to the loss; in most cases of one or both of his
parents, has endured wanderings and hardships
which confound the imagination.
There is little doubt that when the battle
smoke clears and the world turns its attention
to this problem, Palestine will be regarded as a
pioneer in child refugee rehabilitation. The find-
ings which have emerged from this small Pales-
tinian laboratory will be of vital interest wheth-
er or not the methods are feasible for other
countries. How have the approximately 12,000
refugee children, absorbed in the past eleven
years, been restored to a meaningful life? What
becomes of the refugee child after he reaches the
shores of Palestine?
The ultimate nswer is to be found mainly in
the rural districts': for only a minority are sent to
the urban institutions and of this number many
settle on • the land after completing their course.
There is scarcely a village in Palestine where you
will not meet young people who were once
"refugee children." Some of them have remained
in the co-operative villages where they were
trained; some of them have become members of
old established settlements, now in need of young
blood; many have founded or participated in the
founding of new settlements. Among the many
settlements founded by these former "refugee
children" are Alonim (Oaks), in the heart of the
Emek Jezreel; Hulata In the Huleh Swamp;
Matuzba in Galilee; Menara on the mountain
peak adjoining the Lebanon; Zerin at the springs
of Ain Harod; Beth Ha'arava on the shores of the
Dead Sea and others. These settlements are
succeeding. Several have small industrial en=
terprises such as Alonim which makes flutes and
Matzuba which weaves rugs from local wool.
Some have gone in for carp breeding. The lawns
and young forests are filled with the infectious
laughter of children—the children of the refugee
Children. So that Palestine may now proudly look
upon "grand-children;" upon the second genera-
tion and say with a full heart that "It is good."
Were this prodigious achievement to be ex-
plained in one word, that word must be "land."
That simplest of all things—a piece of land to
call their own—has proved to be the great healer.
Any child will learn quickly the word "moledet"
(Homeland). But this word takes on its deepest
meaning when the 'child has also learned to say
"adama sheli" • (my land). This simple but com-
prehensive scheme literally to root the uprooted
child in the soil would not have been feasible but
for the national and social constitution of the set-
tlements, determined by the principles of the
JeWish National Fund,' the owner of the land.
Under private auspices the scheme might well
have foundered or been attended with much
greater difficulty and less success.
,
We call still remember how, more than a
decade ago, the vanguard of German . and Aus-
trian child refugees arrived, straight from loving
homes, bringing trunks of clothes, music instru-
ments, and kodaks. Today ,they arrive with
gaunt faces, some dressed in potato sacks, ber-
eaved, looking like horrible caricatures of a nor-
mal child. Still, the broad lines of the child
Miracle in the Desert:
A young settler brings in the
tomato crop from the truck garden created through irrigation
of the once-barren soil of Beth Ha'arava. This settlement at
the edge of the Dead Sea, more than 1,300 feet below sea level,
represents a triumph of the most rigoroug type of pioneering.
It was established with the aid of the United Palestine Appeal.
Homes in. the Homeland :
A critical housing shortage,
created by the arrival of new settlers in Palestine, is being
solved by the housing development in Palestine, shown above,
left. This project is financed with a fund of $2,400,000 by the
United Palestine Appeal, a United Jewish Appeal Agency.
refugee scheme are proving as successful for
these recent arrivals as for the vanguard.
When leaving the gates of the Athlit Deten-
tion camp or the Haifa Beth Olim, the children
are whisked in buses to their future homes,
whether it be a communal or co-operative set-
tlement or an agricultural training school. In an
unbelievably short space of time, you can see
before your very eyes that the child is forming
an attachment to the- land. No sooner has he
tended a grapevine, picked a basket of oranges,
or ridden home from the fields on a sack of wheat
that the __words, "adama sheli" have a definite
meaning for him.
sk-4-s"—
Old Protect the Young :
The blows of Nazi say-
Life for these refugee children is intensive, : agery have fallen indiscriminately. Jewish deportees
divided between work in the various. branches - are going back home, huddled together, needing food,
medical care. The JDC is rushing tons of food,
of the farm and study. They must master He- shelter,
clothing medical supplies lar ge sums or cash re ef.
,
Religion At Work
I
T happens in Springfield every
Christmas: In the Washington Element-
ary School about one third of the pupils
are Jewish so the principal, Miss Bowker;
has devised a play whereby all three
thirds of the students can enjoy the sea-
son of Christmas. A two-way festival
of lights is given in pageant form : One,
honoring the Christmas star, gives the
scene of the Christ Child in the manger;
the other observes the Hanukah by a
scene set around the Jewish candle, the
Menorah. Rabbis, priests and ministers
have cooperated and every mother matches her child's
enthusiasm in making costumes, rehearsing scenes and
in general fostering a spirit of understanding of each
other's mode of worship. On one such occasion a
teacher made the memorable remark: "You don't have
to teach tolerance to children. All you have to do is
keep them the way they are."
Gift and Giver
"This is for to fix the moosic for to play again." Two
tiny hands held a store of groc. There must have been
a hundred of the little coins. Perhaps not worth more
than a shilling in all, but a treasure to the child. The
man who stood at the door of the Cathedral Chancery
hardly knew what to make of this appealing figure
before him.
Benjamin was a frightened little soul clutching at
this mother's skirts when the family came from Poland.
His father, a musician, had died as a victim of the
treachery of the Nazi storm troopers. At every turn
little Benjamin had known nothing but.-rude treatment.
But in London things were different. Kind people
took them into their home to live. And often they went
into one of the churches to' hear the music. It seemed
to comfort his mother and Benjamin liked the music
too. It reminded him of the days when he sat beside
By DR MAEANNA
CHESERTON-MANGLE
his daddy as he played, One day as they
were walking down near St. Paul's
Cathedral, • an air raid warning drove
them into a shelter. When the "all-clear"
was sounded they discovered that the
apse of St. Paul's had been hit by a high
explosive. Benjamin and his mother felt
as if they had lost a friend. Soon it was
learned that it would take almost £200,000
to repair the damage. What could they
do? Finally Benjamin remembered his
bank. It was the one treasure he - had
rescued from all his possessions. But
could Polish money be used in England? He would try.
So it was that one bright morning he stood at the
door of an Episcopal Chancery with his hoard, and
the , first donation for the repair of the St. PaUl's
great organ was made in Polish coin at the handS of
a Jewish. refugee.
Perfect Unity
Once in Natal, Brazil, while Daniel Poling was wait-
ing for a good flying field, he ran into an old friend,
Chaplain Overstreet, a former minister from -New
England. Dr. Poling thought his friend would go into
town to guide his sightseeing, but Chaplain Overstreet
was busy. He was conducting a Jewish service for a
Roman Catholic Priest. That was enough sightseeing
for Dr. Poling. He stayed, and it developed that there
was no Jewish chaplain in the post. So the other
chaplains, Protestant and Catholic, had been conduct-
ing services for the Jewish boys, a practice which is
approved by military and religious authorities. On
this particular night, a Roman Catholic priest had been
scheduled to conduct the service but he was ill, so
Chaplain Overstreet, the BaptiSt clergyman substitut-
ing for a Catholic chaplain, conducted the Jewish
ritual and gave a sermon for 42 Jewish boys.